SAC Capital said to plan investor conference call

Updated 9:19 pm, Tuesday, November 27, 2012

SAC Capital Advisors, the $14 billion hedge fund run by Greenwich resident Steven A. Cohen, plans to hold a conference call with clients on Wednesday, according to an investor who asked not to be named because the information is private.

SAC executives have reached out to the Stamford-based firm's largest investors to calm concern about Cohen's trading in Elan Corp. and Wyeth LLC after prosecutors for the first time tied the hedge-fund founder to a specific transaction at the center of an insider-trading investigation.

Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at the firm, was arrested on Nov. 20 for allegedly trading shares of Elan and Wyeth based on inside information. Investors, who asked not to be named because the fund is private, are much more concerned about last week's charges than previous ones because Cohen, according to a criminal complaint, traded those shares in his own portfolio and discussed them with Martoma.

Last week's charges mark the sixth time a current or former employee was linked to insider trading while working at the company. Prosecutors say SAC, one of the best-performing hedge funds, reaped $276 million in profits and averted losses after Martoma used inside information from a clinical trial to trade in shares of the two health-care companies in 2008.

While Cohen wasn't mentioned by name in last week's complaint, he is the hedge-fund owner and investment manager referred to in the criminal complaint and a related civil case filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Mr. Cohen and SAC are confident that they have acted appropriately and will continue to cooperate with the government's inquiry," Gasthalter said last week.